Start off your morning with videos of doughnuts and pies. more ›

Watch short films about food while snacking on treats from some of Chicago's best restaurants, including Doughnut Vault, Pleasant House Bakery, Hoosier Mama Pies and more. more ›

Michael Gebert's back with an amazing look at the history of Chicago barbeque. more ›

We brought a camera phone to Healthy Food Lithuanian in its last days of operation. Mike Gebert brought his trusty video camera and produced one of the more moving episodes of his Sky Full of Bacon videocast. If you're a fan of old restaurants, Chicago history, ethnic histories, or middle aged women with thick Bohemian accents, watch this. more ›

The ever intrepid Helen Rosner at Grub Street Chicago went through the Grub Street/MenuPages Chicago database and found that restaurant openings in Chicago were very strong in 2009. For the calendar year, 243 restaurants opened, with big-name openings like XOCO, Cibo Matto and Terzo Piano in the mix. 153 restaurants closed in that same time span, but the bottom line was that there always seemed to be some new place opening that drew crowds. more ›

Mike Gebert's latest Sky Full of Bacon video podcast continues his look into fishing and sustainability by turning his camera to Great Lakes whitefish. With some assistance from Carl Galvan of Supreme Lobster, Gebert went on a fishing run with a Wisconsin family that has been trolling Lake Michigan for whitefish for 130 years. more ›

Mike Gebert took a road trip to Iowa recently to film some behind-the-scenes footage at La Quercia in Norwalk, IA. La Quercia owners Herb and Kathy Eckhouse make some of the best dry-cured artisan salumi available, particularly prosciutto and guanciale. Jeffrey Steingarten called La Quercia's prosciutto "the best American or imported prosciutto [he's] ever tasted," while Bon Appetit once named La Quercia "Food Artisans of the Year." more ›

Sky Full of Bacon 09: Raccoon Stories from Michael Gebert on Vimeo. more ›

• With tomorrow's airing of the long-forgotten Barack Obama episode of Check, Please! in sight, Bridget Houlihan and Tammy Green visit Obama (and Chicagoist) favorite Dixie Kitchen and Bait Shop before the combination of following in the President-elect's footsteps and the "Check, Please! effect" make the Hyde Park restaurant the center of the local restaurant universe. [Chicago Bites]
• Chicago Gluttons jefe Darwensi calls The Meatloaf Bakery in Lincoln Park "the quintessential 'Goddammit, its 6:35pm and I have no idea what to get for dinner; I got three brats and a lazy, fat ass husband to feed' spot." He even gained access to the kitchen to see the "meatfuckery" up close. [Chicago Gluttons]
• Mike Nagrant gets up close and personal with Smoque's Barry Sorkin.[Hungry Mag]

Helen Rosner at MenuPages Chicago was all over the "can you top this, MF" between Mikes Nagrant and Gebert Friday regarding their respective city eats guides: Nagrant's at Serious Eats; Gebert's response at Sky Full of Bacon. more ›

• Former Sun-Times Columnist Esther J. Cepeda (miss reading her) asks if Rick Bayless is Chicago's official Mexican chef at ChuffPo. [HuffPo Chicago]
• Chi-Town Daily News looks in depth at the often overlooked City Farm CSA project near Cabrini Green. [Chi-Town Daily News]
• Smoque owner Barry Sorkin is featured in a NYT article on the perils of opening new restaurants. [NYT]

Check out LTHForum mainstay Michael "Mike G" Gebert's high-definition video podcasts from his wonderfully-named site, "Sky Full of Bacon." more ›